Market Close: a breather ahead of the RBI policy

After the strong run up seen last Friday markets opened positive in line with its Asian peers in green. Profit taking set in and the markets slipped into red but saw some renewed buying support. Markets were volatile throughout the day finally settled with modest gains. Market also chose to be cautious ahed of the monetary policy due tomorrow. Sensex has gained over 8% in the past two weeks on the back of strong earnings and firm global markets. Only Power and Metal stocks garnered investors' interest and selected stocks in the Banking, Auto, Pharma and Telecom sectors succumbed to selling pressure. The Asian markets ended flat in green. Shanghai Composite was up 3.5% while European market trading in mix.

As per provisional data, FIIs were net sellers to the tune of Rs 142.49 crore today. Domestic institutional investors were net buyers to the tune of Rs 258 crore. Overall sentiment is positive on a stable global environment

Sensex ended up 13930 help up by gains in TATA STEEL (556.5,+4 percent), Rel Energy (522.95,+2 percent), RCom (464.95,+2 percent), SATYAM (481.9,+1 percent) and RELIANCE (1558,+1 percent). Restricting the gains were ITC (156.4,-3 percent), HLL (202.2,-2 percent), SBI (1060,-1 percent), Bajaj Auto (2408.95,-1 percent) and Maruti (767.4,-1 percent).

ZEE reported subdued results for the 4th quarter and full year ended March 2007. The numbers were indicative of a mixed performance as the topline for the quarter reported a decline of 3.4% as compared to the same period last year. However operating profits and net profits for the quarter rose 25% YoY and 19% YoY respectively. The full year numbers for FY07 were also subdued as the topline showed a YoY decline of over 2%. The operating profits over the same period rose by 20% YoY and the net profits climbed up by 3% YoY during the same period. The stock ended up by 2.5% and Sun TV ended up by 1%.

Ceat Ltd ended the day lower by 4% post Q4 results. The top line of the company for the year surged by 22% on yearly comparison. The top line for the year stood at Rs. 2,135 cr against Rs. 1,747 cr. The EBIDTA margins were 6% for the year at Rs. 128 cr against Rs. 69 cr in FY 06. The bottom line was at Rs. 39 cr against Rs. 52 lakh in the previous year. The top line for the quarter stood at Rs. 563 cr against Rs. 485 cr in the same quarter previous year. The EBIDTA margins for the quarter were at 8%. The bottom line for the quarter was at Rs. 22 cr against Rs. 5 cr in the same quarter year. The improvement in the bottom line was on a better pricing environment. However the stock closed down on profit taking.

Technically Speaking: It was a Yo-Yo session for the whole day before the markets closed flat. Sensex touched an intraday high of 14046 levels and low of 13879 levels. Over all market was in the hands of Declines as Declines were 1387 against the advances of 1177. The turnover stood good at Rs 4107 Cr. Sensex remains in an uptrend. And we maintain our immediate target of 14275. Supports are at 13845 and 13760 level. Resistance is at 14002 and 14280 level. Expect the market hold the rally and can cross the 14000 benchmarks.